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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wave · straw · cold · lie · charge · clip · march · fall

  1. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. charge — a price
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — an illness
  8. march — the month
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. lie — to recline
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. fall — the season
  15. clip — to cut
  16. march — music
  17. clip — for paper
  18. fall — to drop
  19. charge — electricity
  20. cold — not warm
  21. charge — in control
  22. fall — to drop
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. lie — an untruth

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com